Java the Irish way / 50 years ago, a new drink was born in an S.F. cafe

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, November 16, 2002

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Larry Nolan a 30 year veteran of the Buena Vista Cafe, pouring Irish Coffee's completes a line of 16 as they celibate 50 years. The late Chronicle columnist Stan Delaplane convinced the owners of Buena Vista cafe to serve for the first time Nov 1952 Irish Coffee. By LANCE IVERSEN/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE less

Larry Nolan a 30 year veteran of the Buena Vista Cafe, pouring Irish Coffee's completes a line of 16 as they celibate 50 years. The late Chronicle columnist Stan Delaplane convinced the owners of Buena Vista ... more

Photo: LANCE IVERSEN

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50 years ago this week, the late Chronicle columnist Stan Delaplane convinced the owners of Buena Vista cafe to serve for the first time Nov 1952 Irish Coffee. By LANCE IVERSEN/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

50 years ago this week, the late Chronicle columnist Stan Delaplane convinced the owners of Buena Vista cafe to serve for the first time Nov 1952 Irish Coffee. By LANCE IVERSEN/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Photo: LANCE IVERSEN

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50 years ago this week, the late Chronicle columnist Stan Delaplane convinced the owners of Buena Vista cafe to serve for the first time Nov 1952 Irish Coffee. Lucile Kamps from AZ shakes hands with Alex Monteith from PA as they and their spouses enjoy the famous drink. By LANCE IVERSEN/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE less

50 years ago this week, the late Chronicle columnist Stan Delaplane convinced the owners of Buena Vista cafe to serve for the first time Nov 1952 Irish Coffee. Lucile Kamps from AZ shakes hands with Alex ... more

Photo: LANCE IVERSEN

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IRISHCOFFEED-C-15NOV02-MT-LI

IRISHCOFFEED-C-15NOV02-MT-LI

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Renee Max ties off some anniversary balloons at the Buena Vista cafe.50 years ago this week, the late Chronicle columnist Stan Delaplane convinced the owners of Buena Vista cafe to serve rish Coffee. for the first time, Nov 1952. By LANCE IVERSEN/SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE less

Renee Max ties off some anniversary balloons at the Buena Vista cafe.50 years ago this week, the late Chronicle columnist Stan Delaplane convinced the owners of Buena Vista cafe to serve rish Coffee. for the ... more

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Herb CaEN and Stan Delaplane rush through SFO in this file photo dated 1960 that hangs in the Buena Vista cafe.. BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Herb CaEN and Stan Delaplane rush through SFO in this file photo dated 1960 that hangs in the Buena Vista cafe.. BY SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Photo: LANCE IVERSEN

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The Buena Vista cafe file photo dated 1889 hangs on the wall of the famous bar-cafe at the corners of Hyde and North Pint in San Francisco. SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

The Buena Vista cafe file photo dated 1889 hangs on the wall of the famous bar-cafe at the corners of Hyde and North Pint in San Francisco. SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Photo: LANCE IVERSEN

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Java the Irish way / 50 years ago, a new drink was born in an S.F. cafe

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The date that the Irish discovered America is lost in the green mists of time, but the date that America discovered Irish coffee is clear as clear: It happened in San Francisco, Nov. 10, 1952, 50 years ago this week.

The event is being celebrated with Irish stew, the skirl of Irish bagpipes, and a dollop or three of Irish coffee today and Sunday at San Francisco's Buena Vista Cafe, Hyde and Beach streets, where the cable cars meet the bay.

The Buena Vista is the American mother church of Irish coffee, introduced to the United States by the late Chronicle columnist Stanton Delaplane. As everyone knows, Irish coffee is a cunning mixture of black coffee, Irish whiskey and cream. Irish coffee is now celebrated throughout the country, available from the Aleutian Islands to the Florida Keys.

In the 50 years since it was introduced, the Buena Vista has served 32,661, 000 Irish coffees, by a rough estimate.

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"Irish coffee has put us on the map," said Buena Vista manager Mike Carden. "We serve an average of 2,000 Irish coffees a day -- we are the largest single consumer of Irish whiskey in the country."

One of Carden's regulars, a gent named Antonio Gallo, has kept track of his own intake. As of Nov. 7, he has consumed 560 Irish coffees this year.

Carden is unclear as to why the man stopped counting on Nov. 7, but there are many mysteries in the world of Irish coffee.

One of the mysteries is the timing of the celebration. Though the drink was perfected in America on Nov. 10, the commemoration is taking place somewhat later. "I didn't want to get it mixed up with Veteran's Day," said Carden.

It is hard to believe now, but 50 years ago, Irish coffee was unknown in America. Delaplane discovered it at the Shannon Airport in Ireland, being served by Joe Sheridan, a well-known bartender from Ireland by way of Chicago.

Sheridan had invented the drink to revive passengers disembarking wet, chilled and bone tired from flying boat airplanes at Foynes, just across the River Shannon. When Delaplane encountered him, he was serving passengers arriving in Ireland on the old four-engined Super Continental propeller planes after a grueling transatlantic flight.

Delaplane knew in a flash that such a drink would be popular in foggy, chilly and hard-drinking San Francisco, and in a long November evening of experimenting with Buena Vista owners Jack Koeppler and George Freeberg, perfected the drink.

The problem was that the cream wouldn't float; it took many drinks to discover the secret.

After hours of work, Koeppler and Freeberg knew they were on to a good thing. As his friend Kevin Keating tells it, Delaplane himself was nearly a martyr to science: reeling from his efforts, he came close to collapse on the cable car tracks outside.

"The whole world is going to drink Irish coffee," Koeppler is reported to have said. "This drink is for the gods."

Keating remembers Koeppler and Freeberg acted as if they had discovered gold. "They said, 'Boys, our fortune is made! We'll build a Buena Vista in every town in America."'

Perhaps it was the whiskey talking; in those days, the Buena Vista was a neighborhood bar. Longshoremen and city workers were the customers. There was plenty of parking, and tourism hadn't been invented.

Delaplane wrote about Irish coffee in his column, which was syndicated widely. Suddenly, Irish coffee took off, and the Buena Vista did, too. As Yogi Berra used to say, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded."

There is still only one Buena Vista and the usual crowd was there Friday morning, including John DeSouza of San Francisco, an engineer who has been going to the BV, as its fans call it, for 17 years for breakfast and Irish coffee.

He said he studied Irish coffees all over the world, and the Buena Vista's is the best: "It's the flavor, and the secret is exactly the right mix."

Irish coffee, he said, is healthful: the cream does it. "It is well known," he said, "that if you drink two glasses of milk you can go to a party and drink until the cows come home." The same is true for Irish coffee, he said.

The morning crowd seemed to be half locals and half tourists -- not surprising, considering the location and the Buena Vista's fame.

Only last week, the BV was one of the trivia questions on "Jeopardy!" on network TV. You can't get more famous than that.

"We couldn't have done it without Stanton Delaplane," said Carden. A special exhibition of Delaplane's life and times is mounted on one wall, courtesy of Kris Conti, his daughter, who used to write The Chronicle's "Question Man" feature.

As the years went by, Delaplane soured on the drink he made famous. "I can't stand the stuff anymore," he said once. He died in the spring of 1988 at the age of 80.

The official recipe for Irish coffee, as described by the late Joe Sheridan,

the inventor:

"Cream as rich as an Irish brogue; coffee as strong as a friendly hand; sugar sweet as the tongue of a rogue; and whiskey smooth as the wit of the land."

To arrive at this mixture, Sheridan used Jameson or Powers Irish Whiskey, but the Buena Vista in San Francisco uses a shot of its private brand, Cooley's, made in County Lough, Ireland. They also use black coffee, two lumps of sugar, cocktail size, and heavy cream from a private supplier in Texas. Whipping cream will also do.

The exact proportions are a matter of experiment. Sheridan said he used "a little" Irish whiskey. Sometimes the coffee is described as being "as black as Cromwell's heart." In Ireland the Englishman Oliver Cromwell is viewed as the enemy of all things Irish.

Irish coffee is served in a six-ounce heat-treated stemmed glass. The cream is floated on top.

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